Understanding FICO® Scoring

[joestay]

Okay.  So I recently paid off my auto loan.  My score from EQ went from 735 to 760.  That's a 25 point increase.  I was expecting a decrease because the number of account I have opened decreased.  My highest score so far.

[geronimo2008]

Less debt perhaps?  fewer acounts with balances?  enjoy it that isa good score.

[haulingthescoreup]

What changed on the list of negatives on screen two of your FICO reports? (The positives are entertaining, but it's the negatives that drive the scores.)

[joestay]

It's the age of the account that is negative.  That's the only thing listed on the negative column.  It just says I have a short history.  Average age of account is about 2 and a half year.

[haulingthescoreup]

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joestay wrote:

It's the age of the account that is negative.  That's the only thing listed on the negative column.  It just says I have a short history.  Average age of account is about 2 and a half year.

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But was the same thing listed on the earlier score, from when you still had an open loan? It's the change (if any) that's informative. Your earlier report will probably have two negatives listed.

btw, now that you've hit 760, it only displays one negative factor. It doesn't mean that you don't have a few more; it's just a quirk of myFICO, which displays fewer negatives the higher your score goes. It's mainly because at that point, any additional negatives don't carry much weight, but I think it's because their poor CSR's got tired of phone calls from irate 800+ customers who had negative factors displayed.